ALESSANDRO MENDINI PROUST MONUMENTALE

Photo Alberto Ferrero

Once defining himself as a “designer of a milky way”, Mendini is an artist who pursues a range of interests, with notable passions for literature, architecture and design. Mendini considers himself a “magazine designer” after his work with Casabella and Domus throughout the 1970s and his work to steer the magazines in the direction of radical, functional and rational design.

ALESSANDRO MENDINI PROUST MONUMENTALE

Photo Alberto Ferrero

Alessandro Mendini led art direction for Bisazza during the late 1980s, and under his direction  Bisazza was one of the first companies who looked to leading architects and designers for artistic advice developing from then on collaborations with a variety of personalities in the world of art, architecture and design such as Sandro Chia, Ettore Sottsass, Jaime Hayon, Marcel Wanders and Alessandro Mendini himself.

Convinced that architecture does not originate from the city but from the human body, the “centre of all spatial interest,” Mendini has carried through a number of architectural projects, including the tower in Hiroshima in Japan, the Groninger Museum (Holland 1989-94), the Louisiana Museum (Denmark 1996), the Arosa Casino in Arosa (Switzerland 1997), the Maghetti-neighborhood in Lugano (Switzerland 1999). His project for the Subway of Naples (2001-2003) was presented at the Biennial of Architecture in Venice (2002) and was awarded a gold medal for Architecture at the Milan Triennial (2003). He was also twice awarded of the Compasso d’Oro (Golden Compass Award): in 1979 for his theoretical analyses and in 1982 for design.

“Mobili Per Uomo” (Furniture for Man), a notable project from Mendini, is made up of nine out-of-scale sculptures in yellow gold mosaic designed and created between 1997 and 2008. The project started as a symbolic expression of the essentials of a man’s wardrobe: Giacca, Scarpa, Guanto e Testa pensante (Jacket, Shoe, Glove and Thinking Head, 1997) and was later complemented by Lampada e Tazzina (Lampshade and Cup, from the Nuovi Mobili per Uomo – New Furniture for Man series, 2002), Stella (Star, 2003), Cappello (Hat, 2004) and Borsa (Suitcase, 2008).

ALESSANDRO MENDINI MOBILI PER UOMO

Photo Ottavio Tomasini

The entire Mobili per Uomo collection is now showcased in Vicenza together with the Proust Monumentale, the famous Proust armchair originally designed by Mendini in 1987 with Studio Alchymia, produced by Bisazza in an oversized version for the “Art of Italian Design” exhibition in Athens, October 2005.

Since, the New Museum building has offered a home for contemporary art and an incubator for new ideas, as well as an architectural contribution to New York’s urban landscape. The Museum is a combination of elegant and urban, adding life and verve to New York’s new Lower East Side.

The Museum building rises 174-feet above street level and appears as a dramatic stack of six rectangular boxes. The distinctive architectural form of the building derives directly from the site itself. The anti-establishment museum sits in a scruffy-but-gentrifying part of town and exudes an urban elegance one would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

The interior of the Museum is as non-conformist and contemporary as the exterior. With 15-foot tall clear plate glass windows, and a color palette of stark white and aluminum, visitors will be drawn to the luminous, pale space, full of daylight washing a palette of white and silver.

Bisazza’s Hanami Arancio (orange) and Hanami Azzurro (blue) mosaic patterns provide one of the few touches of color apparent in the Museum.

Bisazza Hanami mosaic covers the walls of Museum restrooms with hotly hued, pixilated Hanami cherry blossom patterns – the only intensely colored feature in the building aside from the vibrant green elevator cab interiors.

The pattern is designed by world-renowned Carlo Dal Bianco and takes its name from the traditional Japanese festival of cherry blossom, as he depicts large black and white cherry blossoms blooming on blue and orange backdrops.

With patterns, textures or blends of white mosaic, Bisazza tile takes immaculate white design to luxurious new heights. Mosaic tiles in bold patterns, such as polka dots and flowers or 24-karat gold mosaic tesserae add style to wall design, backsplash decoration, kitchen motifs and much more.

For an understated, stylish design Bisazza offers glass mosaic in white, such as Hearts White, subtle motifs accentuated by iridescent and opaque white designed by Carlo Dal Bianco. For glamour and luxury, the Bisazza Collection offers 24-karat white gold mosaic, such as Righe Oro B Bianco, where the pattern is enhanced by the diffusion and vibration of light off the gold tesserae.

The sophisticated line of Bisazza mosaic tile in white has been inspired by fabric, nature, abstract and classic motifs. Bisazza’s white mosaic tile combined with white or bold furniture and accents makes a statement all its own. No matter the style, room or pattern your imagination is truly the only limit when incorporating white.

HEARTS WHITE, Bisazza glass mosaic pattern, 20×20 mm tiles. Design Bisazza Design Studio, photographer Federico Cedrone.

RIGHE ORO, Bisazza glass mosaic pattern, 20×20 mm tiles. Design Bisazza Design Studio, photographer Federico Cedrone.

Damasco Oro Bianco, Bisazza glass mosaic pattern 20×20 mm tiles. Design Carlo Dal Bianco. Photo Federico Cedrone.

POIS BIANCHI, Bisazza glass mosaic pattern, 20×20 mm tiles. Design Bisazza Design Studio, photographer Federico Cedrone.

WINTER FLOWERS ORO BIANCO, Bisazza glass mosaic, 20×20 mm tiles. Design Bisazza Design Studio, photographer Federico Cedrone.

BMW MINI, BISAZZA Zebra Mosaic

Discover the most breath-taking BMW MINI Coopers in the world, dressed in thousands of Bisazza glass mosaic tiles. Over 31,700 tiles on a convertible and 37,004 tiles dress a coupe, to be exact. Bisazza craftsmen, headed by Carlo Dal Bianco and Marco Braga, encrusted each BMW MINI with one-half inch by one-half inch glass tiles to transform the vehicles into “artomotive” masterpieces.

The custom MINIs, designed by Oxford and Bisazza, leader in the production, design and application of mosaic tile, express the bond between automobiles and design, created to seduce and satisfy both masculine and feminine sensibilities.

The “dresses” featured on the cars are made from exclusive patterns of the Bisazza Collection; the decors in mosaic are the Dama, Zebra, Tartan, and Summer Flowers design collections, chosen for their roots in fabric, clothing and furnishing design. A fifth car was later added to the collection in a new plaid, red and white pattern, called Pied De Poule (hound’s tooth.)

The MINI Wears Bisazza campaign was first showcased in 2005 at the Milano Design Week. The custom cars have even toured, to be displayed in showrooms and design hot spots around the world.

BMW MINI, BISAZZA Dama Mosaic

BMW MINI, BISAZZA Summer Flowers Mosaic

BMW MINI, Bisazza Pied de Poule Mosaic

BMW MINI, BISAZZA Tartan Mosaic